Today’s Lady News: Why George W. Bush Opposes Abortion

In an interview with Matt Lauer, President George W. Bush said that he became anti-abortion when his mother, Barbara Bush, showed him a fetus in a jar that she had just miscarried. A fetus in a jar, people! Dubya wrote about the incident in his new memoir, Decision Points, and told Lauer, “There’s no question that affected me, a philosophy that we should respect life.” He drove his mother to the hospital after the miscarriage and she gave him permission to recount this story in his memoirs. [Telegraph UK]

Actress Jill Clayburgh, who portrayed strong, feminist women onscreen, passed away on Friday at the age of 66. She received an Oscar nomination for 1978’s “An Unmarried Woman” about a woman who puts her life back together after her husband leaves her. [New York Times]

Meet Houston, Texas, OB-GYN Dr. Natalie Carroll who works hard to change the statistic that 72 percent of black babies are born to unwed mothers. [The Grio]

An anti-abortion activist from the extremist group Operation Save America is in court today for hanging “wanted” posted of doctors who provide abortions. Flip Benham said his posters of four North Carolina docs are free speech, but some say he’s inciting crazy people to hurt or kill providers. [NPR]

Fourteen veterinarians are posing nude in “tasteful, artistic” photographs for a 2011 calendar to benefit veterinary medicine. The photo of the naked woman with the chicken in front of her bare breasts just makes me laugh. [PetMD]

Kentucky Kernel writer Cassidy Herrington wore a hijab (a Muslim head-covering veil) for the entire month of October and the folks at the Muslim women’s blog Muslimah Media Watch had a conversation about what they call “hijab tourism.” [Muslimah Media Watch]

INTERNATIONAL

In Afghanistan, where it is shameful to admit personal problems and mental illnesses often go untreated, women often set themselves on fire as a way out. Some family members will even burn a woman and try to make it look like a suicide. This article is a hard one to read. [New York Times]

Over 100 Jewish women tried to pray out loud at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, which is the most holy site in Judaism where only men are allowed to speak. When the group, called Women of the Wall, began to pray, several Orthodox men shouted abuse at them like “Burn in hell! Whores!” [AFP]

Meet Persian artist Tara Inanloo, the “Iranian Cindy Sherman” who photographs herself in different disguises like Marilyn Monroe or a whore for her website Illegal Images. She believes if she goes back to Iran, she will be executed for her photographs. [The Guardian]

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